


Their Hearts in Your Hand

by Nashi_qo



Category: One Piece
Genre: Birthday, Nakamaship, Surprise Party, The Polar Tang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:34:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26905216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nashi_qo/pseuds/Nashi_qo
Summary: It's a new day and Trafalgar Law, captain of the Heart Pirates, has just gotten out of bed. All he wants is his breakfast and a cup of coffee, but his crew seems to be conspiring to keep him away from the galley. What could they possibly be up to?Originally written as a twitter thread for Law's birthday 2020.
Relationships: Heart Pirates & Trafalgar D. Water Law
Comments: 6
Kudos: 56





	Their Hearts in Your Hand

Light trickles through the porthole, spreading dappled patterns across Law’s eyelids and waking him from a dreamless sleep. He blearily opens his eyes and stares blankly at the ceiling. Still alive. Another day, another step closer to revenge. But first, the bathroom. 

He drags his sorry carcass around the corner to the bathroom, responding to his crew’s cheerful “good morning captain!”s with an unintelligible mumble and vague wave of his hand. Somewhere in the back of his mind he notices them giggling about something, but he is too tired to care just yet. 

Law feels more human after freshening up, and heads towards the galley for food but is stopped by a hand grabbing his elbow. “Hey wait, I need your help in the mechanical room, Cap,” Ikkaku says with a grin. 

“Right now?” Law groans.

“Yes right now,” she responds 

“But coffee-” 

“Will still be there, c’mon,” she interrupts before pulling him towards the stairs. 

I’m the captain, Law thought begrudgingly. I shouldn’t be getting dragged around my own ship. But if Ikkaku says she needs him  _ right now _ it must be important, right? He follows Ikkaku to the lowest deck of the Tang, where the thrum of machinery fills the air like a great mechanical heartbeat. Ikkaku rattles off a list of maintenance issues and her proposed fixes, with the finer details of it mostly going over Law’s head. It all sounds like relatively routine stuff, why is he here again? He has a general understanding of how everything worked, but he was usually happy to let his chief mechanic handle the finer details on her own. 

Law nodded along, responding with his own occasional suggestions, before his hunger finally got the best of him. He interrupted her list with “Is that all? It all sounds pretty routine, and I trust your judgement. Do whatever you think is best for the rest,” and strode away in search of breakfast. Ikkaku preens at the praise before realizing she is now alone and frantically scrambles for her pockets. 

Law heads once more towards the galley, looking forward to his daily coffee. He hears the crackle of a mini den-den mushi and hushed whispers, and turns the corner to see Uni and Bepo in the hall. 

“Oh, hi captain,” Uni greeted quickly. “Good to see you finally up. Bepo, weren’t you saying you needed him for something?”

“I was?” Bepo blinks.

“Yeah, you know, in the bridge?” Uni responds pointedly

“The bri- Oh! Yes, sorry, yes captain we need to go to the bridge” Bepo fumbles. 

Before Law can protest, he’s being herded by giant bear paws towards the bridge, once again the opposite direction of where he wanted to go. “What, but, my coffee-” 

“Sorry captain,” Bepo mumbles, still blocking the narrow hallway. 

Law glares at his best friend and navigator in a last ditch effort for freedom, but Bepo retaliates with his own deadly look -- the teddy bear pout. 

Dammit, he can never say no to that face. 

Law begrudgingly allows Bepo to shepherd him to the bridge, but at this point it’s obvious that the crew is deliberately keeping him away from the galley. “What are you all up to Bepo?” Law grumbles. 

“Sorry, I can't tell you” 

“So they  _ are _ up to something.” 

“What, no, sorry, no-one is up to anything” Bepo stutters, looking anywhere but at Law. 

Damn, he’s too cute, Law thinks. Law could pry the crew’s little secret out of the flustered bear mink if he really wanted to, but he decided he’d go along with it for now. But only for Bepo. 

“So, what did I need to come to the bridge for?” 

“To stall you- no, sorry, i mean, to uh, check the charts” Bepo pushes Law towards the map table as he continues his rambling. “There's some strong currents ahead and thought we should verify our heading, sorry” 

“Riiight,” Law said sceptically. He obliges the nervous bear and reviews their charted route before concluding “Yup, you’ve got it all sorted out nicely, should be smooth cruising. Now I’m getting some damn breakfast and don’t you dare try to stop me. And stop apologizing so much.” He ruffles Bepo’s fur affectionately on his way out the door. 

For the third time this morning, Law walks towards the galley, and this time when he turns the corner there is no one in the narrow hall to stop him. He is three steps away from the door when Shachi bursts out, quickly shutting the door behind himself to block both Law’s view and his path. 

“Hey, captain! Fancy running into you here!” 

“Shachi-” 

“You know, I was hoping you could look over some designs I-” 

“Shachi-” 

“-put together for some cannon upgrades and-” 

“SHACHI,” Law shouts, finally shutting him up. “Move. Now.” By hell or high water he  _ will _ get his coffee. 

Law watches Shachi grins nervously and hears scrabbling sounds coming through the galley door. He grasps his friend’ shoulders and bodily moves him away from the door. Lifting a hand to flick at Shachi’s hat he says firmly, “You know I love you guys, but I’m fucking starving and I want my breakfast.” 

Law turns back around to grasp the door handle and mentally prepares himself to be met by disaster. Whatever shenanigans his crew has been up to is bound to have made a giant mess. He hopes there is no slime involved this time, and pulls the door open. 

Law catches a brief glimpse of his crew gathered together before his vision is full of confetti and everyone yells “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” Oh shit, was that today? He had been so focused last night on his plotting and planning that he had completely forgotten. Colorful pennants and streamers were hung along the walls (where did those even come from?) and the floor was now covered in sparkling confetti. Shachi and Bepo take advantage of Law’s delayed reaction to come up behind him and steer him into a seat. “Time for birthday breakfast!” 

Penguin sweeps out of the kitchen and dramatically lays a tray on the table with much fanfare from the rest of the crew. Before Law now lays a mug of steaming coffee and piping hot omurice with a slightly lopsided ’Happy Birthday Captain’ written in sauce. He feels a smile start to creep across his face and the ghost of a laugh escapes his lips. The lettering had clearly been rushed while Shachi had held him off at the door. 

“Well, are you gonna eat it while it’s hot?” Penguin asks, passing over a spoon. The crew waits with bated breath as Law takes the spoon and breaks open the omelette, revealing the savory rice inside. He makes sure to get a bit of everything in his scoop and finds that the omelette is extra fluffy, just the way he likes it, and the rice is the perfect balance of savory and spicy with a hint of sweetness from the sauce. 

Law remembers Penguin’s first attempt at making omurice, all those years ago on Swallow Island. The rice was too salty, the egg was too lumpy, and the sauce was too sweet. But even with its flaws, when it all came together it actually was pretty good. Law's smile grows and blooms into a full laugh at the memory. Their little family had grown through the years, and they had all come with their own flaws and broken egg shells at first, but somehow they all came together and balanced each other and just _ worked _ . And it helps that they improved the recipe along the way. 

“It’s perfect, thank you.” 

Penguin beamed with pride and the crew cheered as they cracked into new barrels of ale to really start the celebrations. Law sipped his coffee (ahh, finally) and felt warmth spread through his chest as he watched his crew gallivant about the galley, enjoying their own breakfasts of custard cinnamon toast. 

“We do have one more little surprise for you, captain,” Shachi said, sliding into the seat next to Law. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small black box, tied with a yellow ribbon. Law swallows another spoonful of rice and raises an eyebrow in curiosity. 

The box feels solidly built, and is large enough to fill his hand. He pulls off the ribbon and opens the lid to reveal a shining gold coin cushioned in black velvet and embossed with his own jolly roger. He tenderly lifted the coin out of the box and turned it to see the other side, covered in the same swirling hearts that adorn his body. He takes a breath to speak, but in his shock finds himself unable to say anything at all. 

“It took a while to get the mold on the die press just right,” Penguin said with a smile, sliding in on his other side. “We thought about buying something from an antique store, but Iruka suggested making something one-of-a-kind, just for you, and so, well, we did.” 

Law’s jaw was slack with awe, and he felt his eyes begin to water. “Holy shit you guys,” he finally managed to say. He wrapped his arms around his two friends and squeezed them close, clutching the coin in one hand. Bepo came up behind them and wrapped them all in a bear hug, and the rest of the crew quickly bound over to add to the pile. Wrapped in the tight embrace of his crew, his friends, his family, Law let himself put aside his plans for the future, to just enjoy the warmth and comfort that he had scavenged from across the seas. The next step towards revenge could wait for one day. 

Today was his birthday after all. 

\---

Months later, alone on Punk Hazard, Law would keep that coin with him wherever he went. During the cold and icy nights, he would take it out and run it through his fingers, remembering the warmth he felt that day. They were waiting for him, and he was going to get back to them no matter what; they had many more birthdays to celebrate. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it :) This is my first time dipping my toes back into creative writing of any kind in a very very long time, so if you have constructive critiques lay it on me! 
> 
> You can also find me on twitter @Nashi_Qo


End file.
